Welcome to Seed Collaborative’s

2025-2026 Targeted Universalism Communities of Practice!

More information below or reach out to riogonzalez@berkeley.edu

ENROLLMENT for Fall 2025 IS OPEN! 

How do we practice racial equity in challenging environments?

How do we care for populations with the greatest needs while not alienating the whole?

How do we advance towards a bold vision of belonging without othering?

Seed Collaborative is thrilled to offer the 3rd annual Targeted Universalism Community of Practice (TU COP) launching September 2025.  A 7-month, virtual deep dive into understanding and applying TU and belonging.

Over 150 people from 25 different states have experienced and enriched our small group TU COPs, representing government, nonprofit, philanthropic, academic, and social impact sectors. 

The TU COP is designed to support the practice and application of TU to address structural othering while advancing an affirmative, outcomes-focused universal goal and experience of belonging. 

TU CoP Course Outcomes

The TU CoP is an experiential learning space that supports the group to:

  • Develop a working knowledge of the seven stages of TU

  • Cultivate peer relationships and active group discussions and learning

  • Strengthen your understanding of the application and processes of TU

  • Learn about data, evaluation and communications in relationship to TU

  • Build trust through peer group exchange, regular breakout discussions, somatic practice, and arts & culture

  • Experiential learning about the 10 Practices of Belonging, including Bridging

  • Hear case studies, grapple with challenges, and source the wisdom of the group

“Transformative. Supportive. Powerful Tools and Insights.

Reinvigorating. Nourishing. CoP is Belonging in practice.

TU is both strategy and healing for this moment.” — TU CoP Alum

Details 

  • Meeting: Members will convene virtually for 2-hour sessions monthly over a 7-month learning journey (7 sessions)

  • Monthly group coaching: one hour gatherings for open discussion (participation is optional)

  • Individual coaching (participation is optional)

  • TU Hub with shared materials, process flow charts, and curriculum

  • Certificate of Completion of TU COP Course available from Seed Collaborative

Duration: September 2025 – April 2026 (with a December break)

Size: Space is limited to four cohorts of 25 participants each. 

Cost: $5,000 per person (Fee reduction application is available and fee discounts for multiple participants from the same organization).

Enrollment application here due July 15th 2025

FAQs can be found here 

Scholarship Application for Fee Reduction here

For additional questions, email riogonzalez@berkeley.edu 

About the Facilitators

Seed Collaborative is the leading practitioner and facilitator of TU implementation, as featured in the OBI University TU learning module.  TU was conceptualized by john a. powell and his colleagues at the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI).

Facilitators for the TU COP are Karen Bouris, Paul Hudson, Nina Moreno, Ph.D., and guest expert john powell.

Hear What Alumni Have Said About TU CoP

  • “This is an opportunity to dive deep into targeted universalism and build cultures of belonging with a diverse range of folks committed to this work across the country. I strongly recommend this experience! It is a powerful opportunity to reflect, grow, and sharpen our practices.” - Allie Cannington, The Kelsey

  • "A real time opportunity to co-learn, reflect and feel confident in applying the principles of TU." - Kathilee Porter, ella: early language, learning and literacies alliance

  • "My experience was rich and rewarding, especially the opportunity to connect with others on a journey to make our work and the world a better place through the learning and application of TU." - Joy Thomas, ACE Resource Network

  • "Good use of time and engagement; worth it." - Chrystie Hill, Gates Foundation

  • "The COP was instrumental in helping to build a deeper understanding of TU as well as a caring community committed to the principles. The COP helped to create a sense of hope in a time of chaos and disruption." - Chelsea Baldwin, CO Dept. Human Services Domestic Violence Program

  • "Given the political climate, equity practitioners need to have language around how to keep this work moving. TU gives you the language you need to neutralize the people who misunderstand the necessity of equitable experiences." - Cathie Chavez-Morris, Equidad Group

  • "The CoP provides a comfortable space to learn, engage, and increase your level of knowledge of TU. The sessions provide various opportunities to engage with participants from various sectors, which is part of the richness." – Gabriela B. Delgado, San Diego County Office of Education

  • "If your work relates to the perennial issue of building and maintaining belonging, this is the place to exchange ideas, learn from others, and have your own community that supports you." - Sarah Hong, Health Promotion Strategy, University of Southern California

  • "I had a positive, interactive, and beneficially guided journey to apply TU into my work and into the possibilities of doing challenging work during a difficult time." – Emily Uyeda Kantrim, EUK LLC/L3 Collective

  • "The experience is very wholesome, and especially when going through such tumultuous times, use the learnings to reflect on how you can make better change in the world, even in small ways." - Devin Fields, NYC Mayor's Office of Policy and Planning

  • "Those in the equity and belonging work, those leading the conversations, have so few spaces to share with one another. We need community too and a place to go get energized so we can show up for those who need us." - Tevin Medley, Medley and Todd-Roberson Consulting LLC

  • "The TU COP has been eye-opening, inspiring, motiving, and healing all at the same time." - Anonymous

  • "This experience will impact your work in unforeseen ways, by providing support, by creating space for dialogue, by bringing together folks who may never have been in the same space talking about these same topics before or after this COP experience." - Yalda Shahram, UCSF

  • "It has helped me to understand that belonging and compassion are not just "nice", but essential, measurable and take practice…" – Erica Lee, Restorative Justice Educator